WelcomeTo My World

Monday, 30 June 2014

.Ireland, my native country, mobilized the State to illegally snatch my baby from me -and nothing can ever undo the damage inflicted on me and on tens of thousands of innocent Irish mothers.

I was tried and fraudulently found guilty in the kangaroo courts of Catholic Ireland - and I was sentenced to have my own flesh and blood torn from me.Instead of helping me defend my parental rights, the Irish government and the Irish Catholic Church conspired to construct a sham legal process based on coerced consent in order to steal my child.Read more from the link below http://fintandunne.blogspot.ie/2014/06/How-Ireland-Snatched-My-Beautiful-Baby.html

“When AJC was made aware of the JFAA and what it comprised, we knew that we had to help support it,” says Sam Thurman, A Just Cause. “Our first push in support of the JFAA occurred in May of this year and we knew there was interest when we got over 115,000 hits on the internet on a press release showing our support. What Senator Leahy and his co-sponsors have included in the JFAA aligns with the types of efforts A Just Cause is pushing for. We are encouraging all of our volunteers, supporters, and similar advocacy groups to contact their representatives in the House and Senate to voice their support for passage of the Justice For All Reauthorization Act 2013," asserts Thurman.

United States Senate Judiciary Committee records show that The Justice for All Reauthorization Act is a bipartisan bill that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved last October. On Monday April 7, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives passed one part of the JFAA, the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act (H.R. 4323), which provides grants to states to reduce evidence backlogs in their crime labs. (Senator Goodlatte, Report from the Committee on the Judiciary, April 7, 2014, http://beta.congress.gov/congressional-report/113th-congress/house-report/404/1)

According to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chair of the Judiciary Committee and lead sponsor of the bill, the bill “…strengthens important rights for crime victims, reauthorizes the Debbie Smith DNA Backlog Grant Program, seeks to improve the quality of indigent defense, and increases access to post-conviction DNA testing to help protect the innocent.” (leahy.senate.gov/issues/criminal-justice).

“Representatives from A Just Cause have been in Washington, D.C. for the past two weeks, and part of our mission was to show our support for the Justice For All Act," says Regenia Thurman, A Just Cause. “As an example of some of the things we have done to show our support, we printed bumper stickers and lapel stickers, and our team personally visited Senate offices to drop them off and to encourage them to support the Act. We also promote JFAA each week on multiple internet radio shows to include AJC’s “A Just Cause Coast to Coast” on blogtalk radio (http://www.AJCradio.com), PRN.FM and Live365.com,” Regenia Thurman adds.

“Our efforts over the past couple of weeks on Capital Hill to show our support for the Justice For All Act were well received,” says Ethel Lopez, A Just Cause VP. “We recognize that we can play a vital role in judicial reform and legislation, so that is exactly what we are going to do," Lopez proclaims. “It’s like a partnership with our lawmakers,” Lopez adds.

“Passage of JFAA means a great deal for things like post-conviction DNA testing”, says Regenia Thurman. “Post-conviction DNA testing is important for both the benefit of those wrongly convicted and public safety. The bottom line is that wrongful convictions mean that the real offender remains at large," Thurman concludes.

“All to often we hear about men and women being wrongly imprisoned for 15, 25, 30 years for crimes they didn’t commit," says Sam Thurman. “The provisions of this Act, when passed/reauthorized, will help right the instances of wrongful convictions that are yet to be discovered. We look forward to supporting this initiative, and others like it," says Thurman.

According to the office of Senator Patrick Leahy, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced the Justice For All Reauthorization Act 2013 during Crime Victims’ week in 2013. “In the years since the Justice for All Act passed, we have also seen too many cases of people found to be innocent after spending years in jail,” Leahy said. “We must act to ensure that our criminal justice system works as it should so that relevant evidence is tested and considered and all defendants receive quality representation.” (http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/leahy-and-cornyn-introduce-legislation-to-reauthorize-landmark-justice-for-all-act)

Senate Judiciary records show that among the original cosponsors of the bill are five Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and original sponsor Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX). (https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s822)

A Just Cause is a volunteer organization that seeks balance and accountability in the judicial process; raising awareness and seeking solutions in cases where innocent men and women are wrongly convicted and sentenced to prison. (http://www.a-justcause.com)

https://soundcloud.com/mmuhammad95/the-maurice-muhammad-show-abduction-crucifixion-jeffery-wansleyJeffery Wayne Wansley has been unlawfully held in custody for over 14 years by the State of Mississippi for a crime he didn't commit, It never took place. On February 20, 2012 the Attorney General’s office, made the following statement to CNN: “Our office has the singular responsibility to not only ensure that the guilty are punished, but that the innocent are set free.” If that is the case, ask attorney Jim Hood (601) 359-3680, why is his office fighting to keep Jeffery Wansley incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit? Check out www.jefferywansley.com

We received word this weekend that Amer Jubran was finally granted a visit by family at the General Intelligence Directorate detention facility near Amman, Jordan this past Friday--seven weeks after he was arrested. He appeared to be in good health and his spirit remains strong.

While this news comes as a relief, we are gravely concerned that Amer continues to be detained without charges, in violation both of Jordanian law and of international standards of human rights.

Amer's detention is a political silencing. It is taking place in the context of new "anti-terrorism" legislation passed in Jordan on June 1, 2014 that criminalizes new categories of speech. According to the human rights organization Alkarama:

"Criticizing or caricaturing a foreign leader, or more generally a policy of a third country, also falls under the definition of terrorism. Thus, any person that has 'disturbed relations with a foreign country' can be prosecuted. ... More importantly, if an act is qualified as an act of terrorism, authorities can then bring perpetrators of the real or supposed violations, before the State Security Court, an extraordinary jurisdiction. This court lacks independence as it is directly linked to the executive branch, and its members, including one military, are appointed by the Prime Minister." ( http://en.alkarama.org/jordan/24-communiqu/1240-jordan-new-anti-terrorism-law-violates-international-human-rights-standards )

Such legislation is designed to protect the interests of US and Israeli political domination, and not the interests of the people of Jordan and the surrounding Arab region.

We do not know if Israel or the US ordered Amer's arrest, but it is clear that his detention is aimed at silencing a strong voice of dissent against their policies.

We call on all supporters to remain committed to the campaign to win Amer's freedom. Thank you for the support you have shown so far. We will be sending out more information soon about next steps.

What is crowd-funding? Crowd-Funding constitutes a group of people joining together to collect funds to achieve a common objective.

Why does it matter to this group? Because it allows communities to collect the funds to confront governments and large corporations, through innovative initiatives and ideas.

The problem to overcome in this case is that Australia is closed for justice. The politicians refuse to confront what The Expendable Project has exposed about politicians. The AFP fights against transparency and truth at every juncture, to protect its own. The media vilifies anyone who threatens to expose its fabrications and smears, protecting the squalid establishment it is a constituent part of.

In short, the powerful and privileged look after each other. Schapelle Corby, and the rest of us, are expendable when we get in the way.

As individuals, we are relatively powerless to stand up to this. However, as a community we are not.

CROWD-FUNDING JUSTICE: A CITIZEN'S ARRESTOne way to combine is to ‘crowd-fund’ an event which would directly confront politicians, and which would bypass the demonstrably corrupt AFP. The nature of such an event almost spells itself out.

The Expendable Project has published the cast iron proof of Canberra’s appalling misconduct, self-interest, and unmitigated abuse. This is incontrovertible: it presents evidential proof of a series gross criminal acts and flagrant abuses of human rights.

But where is there to go when the nation state itself refuses to face this? Where to turn when the ranks are closed to protect the culpable? What to do when the media hides the damning government cables, and abuses and ridicules the innocent victim instead?

We can take justice by the hand, and become pro-active. We can create a 'bounty', payable to anyone who will make a citizen's arrest of named individuals, preferably outside the jurisdiction of Australia. We can use truth and justice to confront them in public, as individuals: outside their cosy protected comfort zone.

HOW, WHAT & WHOBut how? What to do? How to make a legal arrest? What to present to the police? What to say? What will it achieve?

Anyone who fulfils those conditions in making a citizen's arrest of Howard, Ellison, or Keelty, will be rewarded with the bounty so far collected from the global public, from the people. The bounty will then continue to be replenished with new donations, and we will go again.

Canberra? Anyone who commits or has committed an offence against Schapelle Corby can and will be added to the list. Queensland, and the theft of $500,000 of taxpayer revenue to fund TV smears? Yes, those responsible can and will be added to the list too.

Crowd-funding opens up a raft of opportunities to take the truth forward, and to seek justice directly. At the same time, foreign governments (including Indonesia) are to be approached to alert them to this situation, and seek assistance should an arrest take place on their territory.

As the bounty increases, so does the probability of subsequent arrests taking place.

HUMAN BEINGS ARE NOT EXPENDABLEFrom here on, those who have abused Schapelle Corby for self interest can rest a little less easy in their beds: public accountability and justice are edging closer. The light of integrity and truth shines increasingly brightly on the grubby corners of Canberra, and the vested interests of those who purport to represent us, but serve only the interests of themselves, and the paymasters of Macquarie Bank.

Saturday, 28 June 2014

PROVIDED BY HTTP://CNNNEXT.COM
After spending years in prison for a rape they did not commit, the Central Park Five have reached a $40 million settlement agreement with New York City. Michelle Miller reports.

Those that have shared the journey so far will know that 99.9% of the time I keep it a lyrical thing because I believe the word is important, but what with that and my illness sometimes things can get a little serious and peeps dont get to see a more chilled fun side, & its nice to kick back and show that from time to time, So, this is me doing just that. hope ya like it? the track is available from the 15th July on ITUNES & all major downloads. stay blessed :) XXX

This video is a little long and may be boring to some, but I wanted to show an uncut version for people to see how long this process takes, and for it to be used as an educational tool for people working with traumatized dogs.

This article will carry news of random deaths of mentally challenged Americans. Please come back regularly as the death toll grows pretty rapidly. If you learn about individuals who should be added, please comment about them in the comments field below. The 2014 deaths will be added to this article. If we include prior years, the article will be much, much too long, but please feel free to add deaths from prior years to the comments field.

June 15, 2014 - Two Dallas police officers on leave after mentally ill man shot, killed ~ DALLAS — A 38-year-old man was shot and killed in the doorway of his mother's Oak Cliff home Saturday morning by the very people called to help him. Investigators are reviewing video from body cameras the officers were wearing at the time of the incident. Sources say it's the first Dallas police shooting captured by body cameras.

"My neighbor said when she got here he was face down in a pool of blood HANDCUFFED," said Harrison, Jason Harrison's brother.

“I just really wish that he could have got the help that we've really been trying to get for him so that maybe it could have had a different outcome,” Harrison said. “We'll never know.”

On January 13, James Embry, a mentally ill inmate, died by starvation in Kentucky State Penitentiary. According to the report of the internal investigation, Embry stopped taking medications for anxiety in May 2013. Seven months later, he told the lead prison psychologist, Jean Hinkebein, on Dec. 3 that he felt anxious and paranoid and wanted to restart those medications. But the psychologist concluded Embry didn't have any significant mental health issues even though Embry repeatedly talked about wanting to hurt himself. Hinkebein and an associate considered his comments vague, and his request for medication was denied. Read the entire AP article about Embry's demise at

Paragraph 1 repeatedThis article will carry news of random deaths of mentally challenged Americans. Please come back regularly as the death toll grows pretty rapidly. If you learn about individuals who should be added, please comment about them in the comments field below. The 2014 deaths will be added to this article. If we include prior years, the article will be much, much too long, but please feel free to add deaths from prior years to the comments field.

It would be illegal to keep a dog in a tight space 23 hours a day and gas or Taser him for barking. It would be illegal to put a dog in deadly restraint for control. This happens to mentally ill Americans routinely in the nation's jails and prisons. What happened to Larry Neal?

Tracy homlesness coming

Tracy on BBC panaorama
Tracy and her kids were leaving normal live in London at Brent borough, she was helping out voluntarily in nursery children centre as part of her career plan. She has been evicted by her landlord. Council has confirmed that there are not houses available to accommodate her with the children immediately but promised her to find somewhere else within weeks. Currently Tracy with her children stress , depress , and in unhealthy state, they are leaving in one room for more than 10 months at Hostel as emergency accommodation provided by Brent council. Last week the council has asked her to move outside London and must sign a contract with private landlord paying rent that she can't afford it, and not to approach any other council for 2 years seeking help, and not to refuse that offer. otherwise she must leave to street by next Wednesday the 2nd of July 2014.

Thursday, 26 June 2014

Capping a year of reporting about teens held in solitary confinement, The Center for Investigative Reporting is releasing our documentary "Alone," which can now be seen on our YouTube channel, The I Files.

This follows stories we've done in print, for broadcast on the PBS NewsHour, as part of CIR's new "Reveal" radio show, and in an animation ("The Box") and graphic novel.

With the publication or broadcast of each version of our reporting, we have seen the issue of teenage solitary confinement become part of a growing national debate.

In May, after more than a year of lobbying by youth advocates, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called on states to end the excessive use of solitary confinement on juvenile inmates.

CIR began investigating the solitary confinement of teenagers in prisons, jails and juvenile halls across the U.S. in March 2013. Juvenile justice experts had been pressing the Department of Justice to flex its muscle on behalf of young inmates, to no avail. Holder's shop declined all interview requests by CIR.

Our reporting quickly zeroed in on Rikers Island, the massive jail complex in New York City, where last year about a quarter of juvenile inmates were held in isolation for 23 hours a day. We spent almost a year requesting to see Rikers' teen solitary units, but the city's Department of Correction denied them, as did officials at Cook County jail in Chicago and five county jails in Florida. We figured out quickly that juvenile solitary was an often secretive practice, largely unregulated and rampant in most states.

Our investigation early on pointed to thousands of American teenagers held in solitary every day. We wanted to show what that looked like and how it affected kids. We talked to criminal justice experts in California who said virtually every juvenile hall in the state used some form of prolonged isolation.

That's when we remembered Santa Cruz County Juvenile Hall. Covering juvenile justice over the years, Trey Bundy had heard again and again that officials in Santa Cruz had created a model that had reduced the use of isolation so much that corrections officials around the country routinely traveled to California's Central Coast to see how they did it.

Santa Cruz Chief Probation Officer Fernando Giraldo, and Sara Ryan, the hall's superintendent, allowed us to film inside their facility for five days, unescorted, and talk to anyone we wanted. Our resulting documentary, "Alone," toggles between New York City and Santa Cruz, where young people tell their own stories of isolation and how the justice system can do better.

Now that Holder has said he wants to end excessive solitary for youth, we'll keep watching for changes. In the meantime, watch "Alone" and see for yourself what it's like for kids in isolation and how one facility is trying to keep them out.

"Alone" was produced Daffodil Altan. It was reported by Altan and Trey Bundy, edited by David Ritsher and Andrew Gersh, and filmed by Marco Villalobos. The senior producer was Stephen Talbot. The executive producer was Susanne Reber.

With 10,000 children in care of the UK government, taking kids from their parents is seen as a last resort. But some British families have been torn apart by social workers who remove children over minor domestic issues.

As I have said so many times in the past I am deeply and truly honored that you remember me on this day and I am honored to have my words read to you today. I think this commemoration day should be about the lives of all our people who in some way lived and died for us.

By the time of the Oglala shoot-out there had already been some 60 something of our Native people killed. These people are the ones we are commemorating here today. I always especially remember Joe Stunz, who was a mentor to some of the younger boys in the community.

Of all the things I want us to remember today and everyday, I want us to remember who WE are, I want us to remember where WE came from, I want us to remember our ancestors that we are so proud of , and I want us to live in such a way that our children and our children’s-children will look back at us and be proud of who they are because of what we were.

I want to see a day where our people do not have to depend on any other source than ourselves.

I want to see a day where our people aren’t suffering from the bitter cold in the winter months.

A day where our people are not suffering from mal-nutrition and improper medical care.

I want to see fires burning inside well built homes that are not unstable and falling apart.

I want to see a day where alcoholism and drug abuse is not rampant throughout indian country.

There are so many other things I could mention that need to change, and I will tell you for a fact they won’t start changing until WE change them.

We must look back to our traditions. We must look back to our own cultures and the teachings of our elders who taught us that the greatest gift the creator gave us was our bodies in good health and the Earth around us. We must remember from our traditions, that it is our responsibility to take care of our bodies and health and the bodies and health of our children,

Our traditions also taught us to be the caretakers of all the nature around us.

There is an old saying back when the Buffalo were almost totally done away with, I think there were only about 25 or so left, in the U.S., the saying was that when the Buffalo come back, the American Indian would also come back. Well, the Buffalo are back, they are not what they were, but they are thriving. WE are also coming back, and we are not what we were yet, but we will be.

I know things have changed, as they always do and we must rise to meet those challenges. Everything in life is based on some challenge and we have faced challenge after challenge and we are still here. I want to encourage all of you from the depths of my soul and with my deepest prayers; to set up programs for our children that would teach them the survival skills that it will take to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. To find ways to protect and restore our Earth.

As a man I encourage you men out there to step up stronger than you have been, more determined than you have been, more consistent and persevering than you have been,and do all you can to make this a better place for all people.

Our enemies are many, but most of it has to do with money. People, at times, love money more than the Creator, or the gifts the creator gave us. Our people will be approached even more in the coming future to sell off our lands and our resources and we must do what we can to protect them for our children and the coming generations.

We must also at every opportunity remind the Gov’t of the agreements and treaties they have made with our people. We should also remind them at every opportunity that the Black Hills are still ours, and the lease is up. We should also remind them, at every opportunity that we are part of the treaty they call the constitution and that we should be respected and given every equal right under that agreement. One thing in particular that the constitution says, is that you will receive a trial with a jury of your peers and yet every indian that is arrested and tried in federal court is tried off the reservation, there is no jury of our peers.

That is just one point, there are many.

I know for a fact that our people have it within their blood, history and understandings, to win out over this time of trial that our people have been going through for a couple hundred years now.

If we want things to be different we are going to have to DO them different.

When I think about our young people and elders who commit suicide I am full of sorrow. When I hear about what is happening to Mother Earth, I weep with anguish.

These things won’t change until we take responsibility for making that change ourselves. These corporations are not embarrassed at all by hurting us. They always find some legal, moral or religious reason to justify stealing from us. We as a people must take responsibility, rise to the challenge and teach our children to be able to face that challenge. We need to get back to eating the foods that our bodies are designed for, the ceremonies that our hearts and spirits are designed for, and the love and caring for one another that we are ALL designed for.

A wise elder once said you cannot live with one foot in a White mans canoe and one in an Indians canoe, you have to choose one or the other. He said that in relation to perhaps culture, but when we look at the destruction of the air and the water and the soil and the dangerous possibilities that face all mankind that are taking place right now, we are all in the same boat.

I always remember Floyd Red Crow Westerman once said, that the flowers are not all the same color… the birds don’t all sing the same song but together, they make a beautiful forest. I know for a fact there are people of other races and other colors that feel the same way we do, and when we meet them, we need to join together to stop this common destruction that faces all mankind. There can be no diversity of life on an Earth that cannot sustain life.

I was and am a common man just like you, but in all of this, I came to realize that each of us carries within him the spirit of our people and wherever we go, whether we like it or not, we represent our people. Since I was hauled off to boarding school it has been the same fight, If I would just admit that this Government is always right and never wrong, and if our people would back off from the position of remaining who we are and stop clinging to our cultures, to assimilate, etc, etc…. but in my heart of hearts and in the core of my being I have always remembered what so many of our people have lived and died for, I have remembered that they died for the right to remain on their own land where the creator put us. They lived and died for the right to practice our religion that was given to us. They lived and died to be able to keep their children among them and not be taken off to some boarding school. They lived and died for the right to be Indian, by OUR standards not theirs. I have done my best to live up to that all my days

I am tired, and at kind of at a loss for words now, and I am sure you are all sitting in the hot sun about ready for some cool water and a breeze, but in closing I want to say that

I miss you.

I long to be with you.

I long to have the sun shining on me without the shadow of bars or chain link fencing in the way.

I long to see an eagle circling the Sundance grounds.

I long for the touch and hugs of close friends and loved ones.

I long for life as a free man.

I will never give up, on who we are. I encourage you to stay strong and be a good representative of our people wherever you go. Be an encouragement and a source of strength for those in need.

Wherever they put me, or keep me, or lock me away,- rest assured that my heart and prayers are always with you

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

Mr. Moses describes how in 1874 the white racist Democratic Party violently overthrew the Governor of Mississippi (who had been elected by a mostly black Republican Party), and how these Dixiecrats became a wing of the national Democratic Party right up to 1964, when the Mississippi Freedom Democrats ended their reign

Time for Unity! Please wear black & white on July 25, the Birthday of ‪#‎EmmettTill‬ and Wear it on Aug 28, in memory of all who died because of hate ‪#‎NeverAgain‬ Please share!http://www.EmmettTillLegacyFoundation.com

The fiery H. Rap Brown, chairperson of SNCC, minister of justice for the Black Panther Party and one of the original four targets of the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO to neutralize Black power, is presently entombed in the federal prison at Florence, Colorado, one of the world’s 10 worst prisons. Pursued relentlessly since the ‘60s, he was wrongfully convicted in 2002 of shooting two deputy sheriffs – the prosecutor bragging that they finally got him after trying for 24 years.

Now a campaign is underway to demand proper medical care for recent severe health problems, his transfer to a facility closer to home in Atlanta – where, in the ‘70s, as Imam Jamil Al-Amin, he founded a mosque and has since demonstrated how to revitalize a Black community – and his ultimate freedom. His wife, attorney Karima Al-Amin, who has been with him since the ‘60s, tells his story on the Block Report. Listen to the interview at https://soundcloud.com/blockreportradio and read the transcript here.

Minister of Information JR: Today we’re going to be talking about the prisoner, the Imam Jamil Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown. Our guest is his wife, lawyer Ms. Karima Al-Amin.

Ms. Karima, can you tell the people a little bit about the history of your husband before he became Jamil Al-Amin? Can you tell us a little about his history as H. Rap Brown?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, you know in 1967, in fact May 1967, he was elected chairperson of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and he succeeded Stokely Carmichael, who became Kwame Ture. So when he took over SNCC in May 1967, the organization was and had always been dealing not only with civil rights but human rights, and it was an organization that had always promoted fighting against oppression and improving the conditions of African Americans, but they also concentrated on global issues, especially back then.

I remember in 1967 they were supporting Nelson Mandela and ANC (African National Congress) and the armed struggles that were going on throughout the continent of Africa. So he was not only a national figure but he was also an international figure. And as such the U.S. government and also, under the directorship of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI had instituted in August 1967 the COINTELPRO program, which targeted four organizations and five individuals.

The initial targets were my husband as H. Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Elijah Muhammad, Martin Luther King and Max Stanford, and the four organizations were SNCC, SNLC, The Nation of Islam and RAM (Revolutionary Action Movement), which Max Stanford headed. So under that program, and we know what has happened under that program: It was an effort to neutralize leaders and organizations, to pit them against each other, to destroy the movement. And essentially it was successful, because there were assassinations; there were killings.

They hauled my husband in and out of jail to make sure that he was not on the outside to speak as he was going around the country speaking. So that was his background. He’s from Louisiana and he had always witnessed the inequities and he was committed to make a change.

M.O.I. JR: Why did he get the nickname “Rap”?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, he was always known to do exactly that: rap. When I was growing up we would always, when someone was talking and speaking and doing what’s called “playing the dozens,” that meant that they could rap. His ability to use words and make those words very potent – that became known as rap.

M.O.I. JR: Can you tell us a little about the history of the H. Rap Brown law?

Karima Al-Amin: In February 1968 my husband went out to California to a rally. It was a Free Huey Newton rally. He was there, with Stokely Carmichael and James Foreman, representing SNCC, and at that time it was announced that each of them would have a title. My husband became minister of justice for the Black Panther Party, and that was an effort really to show unity between the organizations and also within the movement.

When he came back from there in February 1968, he was arrested because they said he went out there to California without having permission from a judge in New York City because he was essentially under house arrest. So he was in jail when Martin Luther King was assassinated in April 1968.

Because of all of the protests wanting to get him out of jail, he was released. But two weeks after that, Congress – who had been calling for he and Stokely Carmichael to be thrown in jail and the keys thrown away – the Congresspeople, or representatives, voted to make an amendment to the Fair Housing Bill.

It was passed in April 1968, a few weeks after Martin Luther King’s assassination, and it was called the Rap Brown Amendment, which is still on the books. It made it a felony to cross state lines or send telegrams – at that time telegrams or any modes of communication – to speak with the intent to cause a riot.

As a result of the Rap Brown Amendment passed in April 1968, there were about 80 convictions, I believe, after that. The first group charged under the Rap Brown Amendment was the Chicago 8 – as in seven plus Bobby Seale – Wounded Knee, the Native Americans, all the anti-war protests. So it’s a host of cases that we know of. But I didn’t even realize that was the law that they used to charge so many of the anti-war and the freedom fighters.

M.O.I. JR: Can you talk a little about his transition to Islam and his life as a political prisoner prior to when he became a Muslim?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, essentially he’s always been a political prisoner, although he does say that’s he’s not a prisoner of war, but he’s a prisoner at war. But he’s always been a political prisoner because of the targeting of this government against him.

He was arrested after being sought for 19 months. In March 1970 he did not appear for the trumped-up charges of inciting a riot in Cambridge, which stemmed from his speech in July 1967. The interesting thing about that case: It was a case that they convicted him on to serve five years in prison and then later on it was dismissed because one of the Watergate writers and investigative reporters, Bob Woodward, revealed that those charges were trumped up.

He did not appear for a trial in Bel Air, Maryland. At that time, two SNCC workers, Ralph Featherstone and Che Payne, were blown up in a car bomb explosion and he did not appear for that trial. And as a result of that, they put him on the Ten Most Wanted List and he was not seen for 19 months.

Then he was he was captured in New York City and shot by a policeman and then he went to Rykers Island, which is one of the, I just read, one of the 10 worst prisons in the U.S., or jails actually; that’s what it is, a jail. So when he went there, there were brothers in the Muslim movement who would have him – he would go to classes with them and what would happen, he would then go to classes and then he converted.

He became a Muslim in December 1971 when he was in Rykers. And that was the beginning of his conversion.

M.O.I. JR: Can you talk a little about the communities that your family helped to create in Atlanta and his role as a Muslim imam?

Karima Al-Amin: OK. When he got out of New York State Prison in October 1976, I had moved already here to Atlanta and we were able to get him paroled here to Atlanta. As soon as he came out – that was October 1976 – the next month, November 1976, we made Hajj; the two of us went to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage that Muslims make.

And he started immediately identifying a neighborhood or location in Atlanta where we could form a Muslim community, and that’s what we did. By July 1977, he had formed a Muslim community in the West End area of Atlanta, Georgia. When we got into the neighborhood, the neighborhood was what people would consider typical of a lot of the urban areas: It was just littered with activity with drugs and prostitution and drive-by shootings.

And as a result of his efforts and the efforts of the brothers and sisters of the community, we were able to actually purchase houses in the area where Muslim families would move in to. And then we were able to pull up and he was able, singlehandedly almost, along with the members of the community, to clean up the area.

M.O.I. JR: Before we get into his current case, can you talk about why the police would have a problem with someone like the Imam cleaning up a neighborhood like the West End of Atlanta? I mean many people would think that the police would appreciate the work that Imam Jamil Al-Amin was doing. Why was it to the contrary?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, because we maintain and it is true that even when we started the community – and throughout the years it was known that the community or the neighborhood was changing to be a better neighborhood not only for Muslims but for everyone living there – no matter what, he was still a target of the FBI, even though you would think that the officials would be happy about it.

I know that Andrew Young was happy about it. His daughter moved right there in the community within a few steps maybe or yards from the mosque, and he was very happy that she was there because he felt that she could be very safe there. But in the meantime, we always had – and we’re seeing this in our discovery and the documents from the FBI; I have a request in now to the FBI and they said that they would release 22,000 pages of documents that they have on my husband – other forces that went beyond Atlanta police or Atlanta officials that were really dictating how my husband would be treated.

When we look at the documents, they were planning so many stings, trying to get him on every possible charge that they could. And when we look at the documents, we see that they were actually saying, well, this did not work, so let’s try this.

So we had something that was a little greater than just the Atlanta area. He was traveling internationally; he had made so many contacts that people from around the world and people within this country were contacting him. In many cities, communities were trying to replicate what was being done here.

So they considered this very, very threatening. Also, Islam back then, like it is now, is so misunderstood. It’s a continuous effort to get the people in this country to view Islam and Muslims as the newest boogey people, like the boogeyman, and that everyone should be afraid of Muslims. So that was the backdrop that we were faced with.

So naturally everyone should have been happy – and local people were happy in the community that he was cleaning up the community – but he was considered and is still considered a threat to this country. He’s still being punished for the 1960s, and I don’t think I can make it any plainer than that. He is still being punished by this government.

The prosecutor in the Atlanta case after the conviction said after 24 years we’ve finally gotten him, which means he was counting back to the day when he walked out of a prison in New York City. So this case in Atlanta – and I think we’ll probably get to it – but this case in Atlanta was and is an extension of the targeting.

M.O.I. JR: Well, let’s just start right there. What is the case that he caught in Atlanta? I think it was 2000, 2001. Or should I say the case they pinned on him.

Karima Al-Amin: Right. It was March 2000. Actually in May 1999 he was caught coming out of a restaurant driving a vehicle with a drive-out tag. Drive-out tags were legal then and they’re legal now. Once a car is purchased, then you don’t have a tag because you have not actually obtained one yet, but it’s a drive-out tag with the name of the person you got it from.

He was stopped, which was not considered a valid stop, but he was stopped; and when he was stopped, apparently they looked up the vehicle and said the vehicle had been reported stolen, which naturally he did not know. Then with that charge, he was let out right away, but it was scheduled for court in January 2000; it happened May 1999. By January 2000 it was scheduled to go to court.

There was a snowstorm and his case may have been called, but he did not know when it was going to be called. Apparently by March – this was a couple of months afterwards; that was January – by March, the county where he was arrested with this vehicle charge, the county had put out a warrant for his arrest for not showing up for the court appearance.

And a week before the incident – the incident occurred March 16 – but apparently a week before, some of the sheriff’s deputies said they would go ahead and pull the warrant. They had gone out to the area, so they say, to arrest him because of this warrant.

March 16 at 10:00 at night, they apparently appeared in front of the store to try to arrest him. It’s so complicated and I’m trying simplify it as much as I can, and I hope I’m not leaving out some of the important parts. But at least what we know is that one of the sheriff’s deputies ended up being killed and the other one being shot. The one who was shot was the one who said that the Imam was the one who did the shooting, and he had the Imam as having gray eyes.

The description that evening changed – the height changed, the clothing changed – but these gray eyes were always the eyes of the Imam. But actually he does not have gray eyes, so the description was off.

The surviving sheriff’s deputy and the one who died, before he died, he said that they knew that they had shot the perpetrator. And naturally, when the Imam was arrested four days later in Alabama, in Whitehall, Alabama, there was no indication of any physical injuries on him.

So we did go to trial in 2002 and the jury was being selected. They were supposed to be selected Sept. 12, the day after Sept. 11, 2001, so it was against that whole background that this trial was taking place. And as a result, the jury convicted him of the charges, even though now, what we’ve found out afterwards, is that there was someone who confessed to it. We’ve done an investigation.

The trial attorney that the Imam had did not do the investigation that should have been done as far as his confession is concerned, so now we are at the stage of a federal habeas, and that certainly is part of our argument.

The easiest way for me to explain the case it that it just stinks, from top to bottom, and throughout it all the Imam has maintained his innocence. And based on that and based on the information that we do have after trial, we’re moving along with every possible appeal that we can do to bring out the wrong that was done.

The major thing, No. 1, is not only the confession but the actual lying about the Imam’s description too. He does not fit that description; therefore, the deputy must have seen someone else.

M.O.I. JR: Can you describe the description, because the Imam has a very distinct description? Can you just describe how the Imam looks vs. the description – you know, give us a few characteristics so the people can see how off it was?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, he’s 6 feet 5 inches; his eyes are brown. One interesting thing is on the warrant the surviving sheriff’s deputy said he had no idea who he was. He said he was 28 at the time. I thought he was in is 40s, but apparently he was about 28, and he said he had never even heard of H. Rap Brown or Jamil Al-Amin.

But on the warrant it said that his eyes were gray. So at the trial, this deputy got on the stand and said that his grandmother had told him always look a person in his eyes. And he looked him in his eyes and saw his gray eyes.

Now the Imam always wears glasses. Even if this officer had looked in his eyes, he said nothing about glasses, but he said he knows for certain that his eyes were gray. The description also: He (the shooter) was a shorter person and the clothing that they described changed over the days.

And so when he (the Imam) was arrested and when he saw the clothing that he had on him, then (the description of) the clothing from that evening changed. So that’s why I said the entire, the ENTIRE case – and I don’t have a better word – it is just a travesty.

M.O.I. JR: Can you talk about Georgia moving the Imam to basically the mainland Guantanamo Bay, one of the worst prisons in the United States?

Karima Al-Amin: Right after the conviction of March 2002 the Imam was moved to Southeast Georgia, Reidsville State Prison, and while he was there, he really had a lot of influence especially on the younger inmates. Parents used to come up to us and say they were happy that the Imam was in the same facility because he was really helping their sons.

So he was there from March 2002. In 2006 there was an effort by Muslims at Reidsville to have Imam Jamil be the imam for all of the Georgia incarcerated Muslims. When the facility found out about it, they said that would give the Imam too much influence and too much power. And they wanted him to stop the effort even though he hadn’t initiated the effort. But he said, well, it’s no problem, so he said he would ask the Muslim inmates not to go forward with the effort.

The FBI then went into the institution and then they ended up coming up with a report, “The Radicalization of Muslim Inmates in the Georgia Prison System.” And right after that at the end of July 2007, Georgia, based on a March 1990 agreement that they had with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Georgia gave him up to the feds without a federal charge, without a conviction or a sentence.

But to house him, Georgia pays Florence ADX, the Admax, per day for them to keep the Imam there. We have asked for Georgia to take him back. Georgia says that they will not because he’s too high-profile and Georgia also is saying that they had nothing to do with his placement at ADX. They just gave him up to the feds.

The feds are saying, well, we’ll send him back. Georgia said yes, and then Georgia said they had nothing to do with the placement – that the feds could have put him in another facility. But this goes back to what we have always said, that he’s still being punished for the ‘60s, that he’s still being punished not only for what he represented in the ‘60s but also now as a Muslim.

But he is there locked down for 23 hours in the Florence ADX, which is on every list for being one of the 10 worst prisons in the world, not in the U.S. but in the world, so that’s why we have been attempting to try to have him removed from there.

And not only because of it being one the 10 worst in the world, because we feel for all of the inmates who are there, but the fact is that it’s a continuation of an extreme punishment and we all know there are studies that say that after a person is in solitary confinement for five years that there is a psychological damage that is done, so we feel not only for the Imam but for all those who are held in solitary confinement.

M.O.I. JR: Recently, there’s been an alert by the Imam’s defense committee that he was having medical problems that the prison system was not catering to. Can you tell the people a little about the history behind that, what’s going on with the Imam now, and what it is that we can do to help?

Karima Al-Amin: Right. It was back in October 2013 when we visited the Imam, we noticed that his jaws were swollen. Apparently he had a dental issue that had not been treated and then when we went back in May of this year, a month ago, we noticed that his jaws were still swollen. He was trying to get dental treatment and they would not give him any antibiotics.

He started developing not only chest pains but breathing difficulties. It started becoming very difficult for him to breathe. In addition to that, because of the abscess – because he had developed abscesses – and then the fluids were beginning to drain and go into his lungs, his chest area. He started having the breathing problems; he started to not be able to swallow.

So right after we left in May, he put in to see a physician, and to date a physician has not examined him. He has swollen feet – the top and bottom, the ankles, are all swollen – and within the last two weeks he’s lost 25 pounds. So the concern is about what toxic fluids that have seeped into his bloodstream, the breathing.

He’s 70 years old. In the prison system now, and I’m speaking about the federal system, the age of the population is increasing. And naturally it’s increasing, because the sentences that people are receiving are life sentences. And although they may not want to have a nursing home, they’re going to have to do something to meet the needs of the elderly.

If the prisons cannot address the needs of the elderly inmates, then there’s a need, if they don’t let them out, which is the desired result, then they need to have facilities with adequate medical equipment, premises and medicines to treat the elderly, and that’s what we’re calling for. If ADX cannot address the medical needs of the Imam, we’re asking them to release him to another facility with the adequate resources to take care of the elders.

M.O.I. JR: What can people do to help in general with the Imam’s case?

Karima Al-Amin: Well, a lot of people have been writing and have been calling inquiring about his health. There is a website you can go on with the federal Bureau of Prisons. You can click on inmates; a lot of people have been doing that. And we have some congressional reps who are also concerned and they have been inquiring.

So I think the thing is that when we have those that we care for and love and you have them incarcerated and those in solitary confinement, and your voices can’t be heard, we have to serve as their voice or voices. The Imam has always said to people, do whatever is easy for you. So whatever is easy for a person to at least speak out or inform people, then we would appreciate that assistance. Also people can Google him, they can Google. There are petitions online so we would encourage people to do that.

M.O.I. JR: Where do you prefer for people to get more information if they would like to read up on the Imam and his history?

Karima Al-Amin: When I get on(line), I just put his name in and things come up every time I do that that I have not even seen before. There are bulks of interviews that he has done with people over the years and I think those are really very informative, and I think it’s important for people to do that.

You know we have to educate our young, who absolutely have no idea what some of those who are incarcerated, what they have gone through and why they’re incarcerated. So we really would advise those who are older to try to educate those that are younger so we will have informed people.

M.O.I. JR: Thank you, Ms. Al-Amin, for being with us right here on the Block Report. We appreciate you for standing up in your husband’s defense, but not just because he’s your husband but in defense of someone who has given a lot over the last 50-60 years to our communities. So we salute you, we appreciate the Imam’s contributions and hopefully our listeners will get involved with the campaign to free the Imam.

Karima Al-Amin: We certainly thank you and we extend our appreciation and our love to those who have been with us for at least the last 14 years of his incarceration and before that. Thank you.

How we can help the Campaign to Free Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown)

Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown), the organizers report, is aware of the response to the campaign and sends his greetings and thanks to all who have and are advocating on his behalf.

Still there is much to do. Calls and signatures must continue until our beloved brother has received the required medical attention. His release is paramount and we must not cease until he is returned to us and his family a free man.

We have made progress. Continue the efforts no matter how small: Call, write, publicize, hold rallies and keep the Imam’s name continuously in the media’s eye. Support this critical effort for a man who fought to make life better for us all.

Keep the pressure on: Read, respond, repost and retweet – #SupportImamJamil. From the Muslim Alliance in North America comes this appeal:

“Call the Bureau of Prisons, at 719-784-9464, NOW. If you are told that information can only be given to family members, say that you are not asking for information but are simply expressing concern that Mr. Jamil Al-Amin, No. 99974-555, receive the health care he needs. Leave a message if necessary that includes his name and number. We want the Bureau of Prisons to know that the public is concerned, aware and watching their treatment of Imam Jamil.

“Create an email and fax flood. Email FLM/execassistant@bop.gov or use the form at http://www.bop.gov/inmates/concerns.jsp (location Florence ADMAX USP). Fax 719-784-5290. In your own words, express concern that 1) Mr. Al-Amin is suffering after-effects of delayed dental care: weight loss, inability to eat, swollen feet, respiratory problems; and 2) he has not been examined and treated by a physician as is absolutely necessary given his condition, and as is his right.

Welcome To My World

About Me

DARCY D= YOU MUST BELIEVE.STANDING UP FOR THE INNOCENT C.E.O
The United Kingdom resident champions causes of the voiceless, the powerless and the weak, particularly in North America. She campaigns for petitions on behalf of incarcerated human trafficking.